MC-1 generator performance with higher-energy explosives

The Russian designed MC-1 ultrahigh magnetic field generator was tested in 5 experiments as part of a joint US-Russian collaboration at Los Alamos National Laboratory in December of 1993. The standard Russian explosive (50/50 RDX/TNT) was replaced with higher-energy-density US explosive, either Comp-B (60/40 RDX/TNT) or PBX-9501. Generator performance with Comp-B was nominally the same as reported for experiments with the slightly lower-energy Russian explosive. The Comp-B experiment produced a measured peak field of 9.4 megagauss. Using PBX-9501, the measured peak field increased to 10.9 megagauss with an appropriate increase in the time derivative of the field. One-dimensional MHD calculations with the Lagrangian code, RAVEN are compared with the experimental results.